We all know “Everybody Loves Raymond”, on his television show that is, but the question is whether Emmy winner Ray Romano can successfully make the jump to the big screen, Welcome to Mooseport, is his first non-animated try (Ice Age).
Romano stars as Handy Harrison, the owner of small town Mooseport’s hardware store. Handy has it pretty good, enjoying the simple life, working hard, playing golf, and dragging his feet with his veterinarian girlfriend Sally (Tierney). Everything changes once Ex-President Monroe “Eagle” Dole (Hackman), decides to make Mooseport his place of retirement. But, Eagle’s retirement is delayed when the good people of Mooseport convince him to run for Mayor. During his campaign for Mayor, the recently divorced Eagle sees sparks with Handy’s girlfriend Sally and, before you know it, Handy finds himself in a nationally televised race, for Mayor, and for his girlfriend.
Sounds funny, huh? Unfortunately, it isn’t.
A successful sitcom has a certain chemistry between the actors that makes the show endearing and keeps us watching. Once the actors are taken out of their friendly surroundings, we do not seem to find them as funny as they were before, case in point “Seinfeld”. The same case can be made for Ray Romano’s performance in Welcome to Mooseport.
I must admit that I do enjoy Romano’s television show, the extremely popular “Everybody Loves Raymond” and in Welcome to Mooseport, he does play the exact same character that he plays in his TV show, stuttering, whining, self-deprecating and sometimes charming, it works on TV; it does not work in this movie.
Instead of charming, Romano comes off as distant, vacant, and not very funny. His well-known style quickly becomes annoying. He does not play well off the other characters, and there is little comedic timing to be found.
Despite Romano’s short-comings the supporting cast does a decent job. Two time Academy Award winner Gene Hackman does a good job as the former president, although at times you wonder how he got lured into signing on to this picture. The lovely Maura Tierney (“ER”) holds her own with Hackman or Romano, but the only really stand-out characters are played by Academy Award winner Marcia Gay Harden, Hackman’s political advisor calling all of the shots, and Christine Baranski’s performance as Hackman’s ex-wife. The problem is these two interesting characters are never given enough time to develop as the movie tries to rely on Romano for all the laughs, and it just does not work.
I would not recommend seeing this one in the theatre, or even renting it, wait till it makes it to TV. Welcome to Mooseport, at best, should have been a made-for-TV movie. Maybe it would have worked if all of the cast of “Raymond” would have moved to Mooseport, but in its current form Mooseport is a place better left unvisited.
